Film Review On After Innocence
“It’s finally over it’s been 19 years.” That is more than
just a number, it’s nearly a third of a man’s life that has been absolutely
traumatized. It symbolizes an unfortunate truth that resides amongst us today.
The documentary I watched for the DOC Project was After Innocence. This film
consisted of several men who served in jail for many years over crimes they did
not commit. However, that is just part of the issue as these men try to
transition back to society.
To start off there were a couple things that surprised me
in the film. Although sentencing innocent people to jail was not much a
surprise as mistakes will happen, taking twenty years to figure out they were
innocent is just beyond belief. Weather the DNA test be done earlier, hearing
from more witnesses, whatever the cause may be, but to realize someone was
innocent after they were in jail for over two decades is unacceptable. Another
thing that surprised me in the film was the government ignoring the situation
and not helping the people get their lives back on track. The very least they
could do is offer some money to help them get themselves situated but ignoring
the problem is a major problem in itself that needs to be fixed.
Moreover, questions remain unanswered after watching this
film. The men in the film have already gone through the difficult phase of jail
and trying to get back to their normal lives, but what about the rest of the
men and women innocent in jail? The question that demands an answer, and quite
frankly the right answer is, what will the government do going forward to solve
this issue? There should be a law where the government owes innocent people a
certain amount of money for the time they served in jail so they could get
their loves back on track. Whatever conclusion they come to, one needs to
transpire quickly.
To add on, some problematic concepts I see in this film
that I would research more about is in fact how the government plans to address
this issue. I also want to understand from the people that served in jail,
their perspective on the situation and their lives five, ten, fifteen, years
later and how they have adapted back to society. I would be intrigued to see how
time in jail has changed them, even though they were innocent, but the people
they have become after 20 years locked in a cell. However, the most important
problem issue is how the government plans to fix this glaring issue that is
ruining the lives of hundreds of people each and every year.
In conclusion, the men in this film are just a few out of
hundreds around the country that served over decades in jail for a crime they
did not commit. There has to be a better way to treat these people that have
been proven innocent and more importantly to assure the people serving time in
jail are all guilty of a crime, rather than innocent. It’s saddening a normal
person like you and I could experience such a tragedy, but it is a main problem
in this world that needs to be solved.
No comments:
Post a Comment